NEW ULM — A few days ago, the New Ulm High School football team was winless at 0-6 and looking at a road playoff game at either Fairmont or Waseca.

But Friday morning, the Eagles were awarded a forfeit win over Tri-City United because the Titans used an ineligible player. TCU defeated New Ulm in Week 1 of the season. Later that day, New Ulm defeated Belle Plaine.

Now, with a win at home Wednesday night against Worthington, the possibility exists that New Ulm could host a playoff game for the first time since 2009.

“We need to win Wednesday,” assistant coach Larry Wellmann said. “And Luverne needs to lose to Fairmont Wednesday and TCU needs to defeat Jordan on Wednesday, so there is a very strong possibility that we could have a home playoff game. But the only thing that we are looking at is with the QRF rankings is so they look at that TCU still beat us. But I do not know that the computer reads that as a loss. So there is a chance that we could definitely be playing for a four-seed and a home playoff game.”

The Eagles trailed 20-10 early in the third quarter before they put together one of their longest drive of the season when they went 65 yards on 13 plays to score and cut the lead to 20-18. It was a drive that ate up almost six minutes.

“Down 20-10 I did not see any of our kids with their heads down,” Wellmann said. “There was confidence on the sideline. We just worked until it is done.

“Our kids had the confidence to put together that kind of a drive. We have done it this season. Our kids were feeling comfortable with themselves and their teammates”

One of the key players in that long drive was senior Dylen Carreon, who carried the ball nine of the 13 plays in that drive.

Carreon now has 159 carries for 783 yards and seven touchdowns on the season.

He had three touchdowns and three two-point conversions Friday night.

“The offensive line of Braden Hoffmann, Jared Beranek, Nate Wolkow, Jaden Miller, Jaden Drill and Julien Hernandez had a good game.”

Wellmann said that a win always makes things easier.

“We all knew that we were capable of winning Friday,” he said. “Coach Butch Dwyer said that win means, ‘What’s Important Now.’ We all believed that we have always had the ability to win.”

Wellmann said players like Colton Benson (who stepped in for an injured Garrett Foley) along with Ty Frederick and Jonah Tess also were keys to the win.

FOURTH QUARTER HURTS GREYHOUNDS: New Ulm Cathedral head football coach Denny Lux said that the Greyhounds’ 34-20 loss to Adrian Area Thursday came down to the fourth quarter, where the Dragons outscored Cathedral 16-0.

“It was a well-played game and both teams showed a lot of respect for each other,” he said. “We led at halftime (14-12) and we had a 20-18 lead going into the fourth quarter. They stayed with their power running game and wore us down. We could not stop them on some long drives. They won that fourth quarter and that was the difference in the game.”

Lux said that quarterback Sam Knowles and running back Eric Furth a had a good game.

“Sam showed how athletic he was on two of his long runs and Eric played very hard on both sides of the ball,” Lux said. “He led us in tackles.”

Lux said that as far as playoffs go, the QRF takes a lot of things into consideration.

“We did beat a couple of 2A schools so our game Wednesday with Wabasso is pretty big. With a win we could be up to a four seed and get a home game, USC (just behind the Greyhounds in the QRF for Section 2A) plays Lester Prairie. It would have been a lot better if we would have won Thursday.”

CHARGERS PLAY SOLID IN LOSS: Minnesota Valley Lutheran head football coach Jim Buboltz felt that his team played very well in the 30-6 loss to an unbeaten Murray County Central team Friday.

“I don’t think that the final score is indicative of how well we played,” Buboltz said. “The second and third quarters got away from us but we played even or beat them the other two quarters. It was just a matter of putting together a whole game.”

Buboltz said that he was happy with the effort that the players showed on the field.

“We never gave up — played with a lot of heart which was really good to see. Luke [Thompson] was 13 for 21 passing and Cole [Thompson] had eight catches for 126 yards and a touchdown. We found some things that we like going forward for the playoffs.”

Buboltz had nothing but praise for Cole and Luke Thompson.

“Cole is last out of the weight room and the first guy on the practice field and the last player to leave. He works and works and works. The two of them together are quite a connection. They are great competitors.”

Buboltz said that he needs to get his team back healthy.

“We have not been totally 100% healthy since Week 3.”

He also said that Section 3AA is pretty tight right now and that he thinks his team is right in the mix for home-field playoff action.

MVL (3-4) is currently fourth behind Pipestone (7-0), Redwood Valley (5-2) and Jackson County Central (4-3).